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The Queue sets Wimbledon apart for tennis fans

WIMBLEDON, England — On the Saturday afternoon before Wimbledon began, Bridget Byrnes was tucked into a lawn chair on the sidewalk of Wimbledon Park Road, a few hundred yards from the All England Club. Her

WIMBLEDON, England — On the Saturday afternoon before Wimbledon began, Bridget Byrnes was tucked into a lawn chair on the sidewalk of Wimbledon Park Road, a few hundred yards from the All England Club. Her Jack Russell Westie dog, Ava, was at her side.

"I've done it for 10 years and my friend has done it for 30. We always come on Saturday," said Byrnes, a local resident. "It's the camping; it's the fun. We've made lots and lots of friends from around the world in The Queue. It is something very special at Wimbledon."

Welcome to The Queue at Wimbledon. It's a public line for tickets that has become almost as synonymous with this event as the grass courts.

Each day some 1,500 stadium tickets for matches played on Centre Court and Nos. 1 and 2 Courts are allotted to a queue-happy public. Those willing to camp overnight, stay in line for hours and arrive on the grounds without a shower from the evening before are rewarded with a chance to watch some of their tennis heroes.

"I know a lot of people that stand in the line just for fun," said Heather Watson, the No.1 British female player. "They'll have some food, have a picnic along the way. That's part of the fun of it. At the end, they get a ticket."

Beyond the 1,500 tickets handed out to the first queue-goers, thousands more are sold each day to fans who arrive in The Queue hours before the gate opens at 10:30 a.m. local time. The Wimbledon grounds hold 39,000 fans at capacity.

"It has only grown in popularity," said Nick Pearce, the tournament's chief honorary steward. "It gets earlier and earlier every year. As soon as the tube trains start running at 5:30 in the morning and unload 700 people at a time, that's a lot of people into our allocation of grounds passes."

Tarlok Kharpal, 27, drove with a friend from Wolverhampton, more than two hours outside of London. He made friends in The Queue with a gentleman from Serbia who came equipped with a tent for overnight sleeping.

"We're just used to it," Kharpal said in regard to the British public standing in queue. "It doesn't seem like a chore to us. We queue for everything."

On Monday morning, fans lined the public space known as Wimbledon Park, the size of several football fields. Newspapers were handed out, morning scones eaten and a variety of cellphone and board games played as queue-goers passed the time.

Wimbledon officials announced just after 8:30 a.m. local time on social media channels that The Queue was at full capacity for Monday tickets, advising fans to no longer try and join.

"You watch Wimbledon on TV when you're young, and when you finally get to come it's realizing a dream from when you were small," says Kharpal, wearing a Rafael Nadal hat snug on his head. "It makes it all worth it, really. The one or two days you have to queue are insignificant really. Once you get in, you forget all about it."

Fans in line for tickets to Wimbledon on June 29, 2015.(Photo: Carl Court, Getty Images)

Pearce's staff is made up of more than 200 honorary stewards and 80 day-and-night stewards. By 3 p.m. Monday, Pearce thought a good portion of Tuesday's first 500 queue spots — where the people there would have a choice at Centre Court tickets to watch Andy Murray — were taken. His staff works 24-7.

"We see the same familiar faces of fans every year," Pearce said with a laugh. "These are longstanding, enthusiastic tennis fans. It's a pretty big operation."

The tradition began because the All England Club, a private entity, wanted to make sure tennis fans had a chance at buying tickets on the day of matches with a shot at getting show-court seats, Pearce said.

"I always say Wimbledon is a really unique experience," said world No. 1 and five-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams, who played Monday on No.1 Court. "Lining up, being able to get tickets ... it's a wonderful experience. I think it's pretty cool. It's like no other tournament."

Nearly 48 hours earlier, Byrnes and her dog had been the first in The Queue, preparing for two consecutive nights on the field before getting to see her favorite player, defending men's champion Novak Djokovic. She brought along a Serbian flag, although Ava would exit before the first night's sleep — no dogs allowed.

"There is something very special about Wimbledon when you walk through the gates," Byrnes said. "And it starts in The Queue. The Queue embodies that."

Defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts after winning his first round match against Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany during day one of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships Julian Finney, Getty Images